Germany on their way to the quarter finals

The Ice Hockey World Championship in Finland shows that the teams are getting closer together in terms of quality. Although there are still the teams that continue to dominate this sport, there are obviously no longer the very small nations at the A-World Championship that are easily swept off the ice by double digits. That’s why the German team is expecting a difficult match against Denmark on Thursday.

Toni Söderholm’s team has started the tournament well and can’t complain with six points from two games. A win against the Danes would be a big step towards the quarter-finals, which have been set as the minimum goal. At the moment, the DEB men are on course for third place behind Canada and Switzerland. If they get through the preliminary round cleanly, maybe even second place is possible.

The Danes have set the primary goal of staying in the league. In this respect, with six points from two games, nothing more should go wrong. The Danes are also flirting with the quarter-finals at the moment, which would be within reach with a win against the Germans.

Germany has had the more difficult programme so far. The Danes, however, have already solved their compulsory tasks against Italy and Kazakhstan and can now go into the upcoming games completely free. Maybe that will inspire the Vikings and lead to more points. We think it is at least conceivable to place a bet on a draw after 60 minutes between Germany and Denmark.

Germany – statistics & current form

There is still room for improvement, but Toni Söderholm’s team has shown a good tournament so far in the home of the DEB coach. After three games, six points are worthy of all honour, especially as they already had two opponents in front of them in the form of World Champions Canada and Slovakia, who also want to occupy one of the top four places in this Group A.

Stable World Cup start

On Thursday, the German team can take a big step towards the play-offs. A win against the Danes is a prerequisite, because the remaining programme of the German skaters is still manageable, for example with the games against Italy and Kazakhstan. We think, however, that the DEB team will not let anything go wrong on Thursday and look mainly at the odds for a German victory in the match Germany vs. Denmark.

On Monday, Toni Söderholm’s team had a hard time against the French team. Daniel Fischbuch and Alexander Ehl put Germany in front twice, but the Equipe Tricolore managed to equalise twice. In the last period, the German team was able to turn its slight superiority into a victory when Leo Pföderl gave his team an important three points with the 3:2 winning goal.

Tim Stützle was injured in the match against the French. An exact diagnosis is still pending. It is conceivable that the attacker from the Ottawa Senators will be absent. However, Leon Gawanke and Lukas Reichel will probably be on their way to Finland to strengthen the German team after their elimination in the playoffs of the second-tier AHL. However, the Denmark game is likely to come too soon for both of them.

The squad of Germany:
Goal: Strahlmeier, Grubauer, Niederberger
Defence: Bittner, Holzer, Wissmann, Wagner, J. Müller, Seider, Zimmermann, M. Müller
Attack: Kastner, Jentzsch, Loibl, Stützle, Plachta, Schmölz, Soramies, Ehl, Ehliz, Michaelis, Fischbuch, Pföderl, Karachun
Head Coach: Söderholm

Denmark – Statistics & current form

What is the Danish team capable of in Finland? After all, Heinz Ehlers’ team reached the quarter-finals at the Beijing Olympics in the spring. Therefore, this is a team that has sporting qualities. What’s more, the start of the tournament was almost like a painting for the Danes.

Highs and lows for the Danes

In the first match, Denmark scored a clear 9:1 victory against the up-and-coming team from Kazakhstan. Afterwards, however, they conceded a 0:6 defeat against Switzerland. This raises the question of what kind of shape the Danish Lions team will be in on Thursday. Tuesday’s match against the Italians did not shed much light on the situation either.

In the first period, Nikolaj Ehlers of the Winnipeg Jets gave his team a 1-0 lead. But this goal did not bring security. The Italians continued to fight back and were rewarded with the equaliser in the second period. The opening goal early in the third period by Mathias Bau Hansen brought the 2-1 victory and the hoped-for three points.

The Danes have now won four of their last five international matches. However, it has to be said that, apart from the Swiss, none of the opponents has what it takes to play a good role at this World Cup in Finland. Therefore, we are still a bit puzzled about the form of the Danes and still tend to predict a German victory between Germany and Denmark.

Predicted line-up of Denmark:
Goal: Dichow, Seldrup, Dahm
Defence: Lassen, M. Lauridsen, O. Lauridsen, Kristensen, M. Jensen, J. Jensen, Larsen, N. Jensen
Attack: Storm, Asperup, Ehlers, Bjorkstrand, Jakobsen, Poulsen, Aagaard, Bau Hansen, Nielsen, Blichfeld, Regin
Head Coach: Ehlers

Germany – Denmark Direct Comparison / H2H-Balance

Although Germany and Denmark are geographical neighbours, the two nations have only faced each other in nine international hockey matches. Somewhat surprisingly, the direct comparison favours the Danes, who are 5:4 ahead after victories. The Danes have won three of the last four duels, all of them in overtime or in penalty shootouts.

However, the last encounter went to the selection from Germany. At the 2019 World Championship in Slovakia, Germany won 2-1 in the group stage, with Matthias Plachta and Frederik Tiffels giving the German team a 2-0 lead in the second period. Mathias Bau Hansen only managed to score the final goal in the last period. In the end, Germany advanced to the quarter-finals, while the Danes had to return home after the preliminary round.

Germany – Denmark Tip

Germany seem to be on a good path towards the quarter-finals, especially as they are now slightly favoured against Denmark and also have matches against the supposed outsiders Italy and Kazakhstan ahead of them. Six points after three games are a good haul, Toni Söderholm’s team has already been on the ice against the world champions from Canada.

Should Tim Stützle not be able to play on Thursday, it will be a bitter loss, but the NHL professional should be able to play again in the course of the tournament. The Danes also have six points on their account, but had the easier opponents in front of them.

However, we do not expect a high German victory, because the Danes are even ahead in the direct comparison. Overall, it should be a close match in which we do not expect a big handicap. However, we think that Toni Söderholm’s team will win by a narrow margin and therefore we have decided to play the betting odds on a German victory in regulation time between Germany and Denmark.